Unspoken Things
by Silvine Fae Graycin
Summary: Oneshot: The events that happened immediately after Rocket knocked out Gamora and ordered Kraglin to leave Ego’s planet.


**(So I just watched Guardians of the Galaxy 12 for the first time a week or so ago, and I'm now obsessed. My favorite character is absolutely Gamora, though Groot is awesome as week.. well they all are, but for some reason I have a thing for strong female characters that are also green. [Wicked is my favorite musical, and the main protagonist in that is a green woman]. And the dynamic between all the characters is great. But I especially love the relationship between Gamora and Peter.**

**This was actually intended to be more of a Gamora kind of breaking down when she thinks Peter is dead, but it's not in her character, so it turned into Mantis telling her her feelings. Then turned into minor Gamora/Peter fluff at the end. **

**This starts right after Rocket orders Kraglin to leave as Ego explodes. Sorry for the long ramble, and hope you all like it.)**

"Groot, don't look at me like that. I had no choice," Rocket said to the little tree that had such a sad look on its face.

"I am Groot," he responded quietly.

"If I hadn't, we'd all be dead, or well on our way. I can't lose anymore friends. Even if they all hate me now. That's why."

"Rocket, why isn't Quill here? What happened? And why is Gamora unconscious?" Drax said after crashing down from the upper deck.

"There was no way he could get back in time. Gamora wanted to go after him, but she would've gotten caught in the explosion too, so I shorted out her mods, causing her to go unconscious. She'll probably be out for half an hour or so. Quill wouldn't have wanted her hurt," the cybernetically enhanced raccoon responded. "Could you carry Gamora to a bunk or something?"

"I could try to wake her up," Mantis said, startling both Drax and Rocket.

"You should be resting. You took a bad hit to the head," Drax said to her.

"My skull is stronger and my skin tougher than they look. I also heal faster than many species. I'll be fine. Would you like me to wake her?"

"No. At least this way I'll have a little longer to live. She's gonna kill me once she wakes up and remembers I left Quill out there and knocked her unconscious."

"It might be safer for you too," Drax added. "Usually Gamora is logical, but I think in this instance she may let her grief take over. She trusted and confided in Quill more than she did the rest of us."

"And she'll see me as part of the reason he's gone," Mantis finished, and Drax nodded.

With Gamora over his shoulder, Drax climbed the ladder to the upper deck and set her down on a Couch in the corner. Kraglin was watching the last of the planet that had been Ego exploding. Rocket knew he was scanning the area, trying to catch a glimpse of Yondu or Quill. He doubted there'd be any sign of either.

Fifteen minutes later, Gamora began to wake, but the only one near her was Mantis.

Rocket was with Kraglin and Nebula, the three of them not agreeing on what to do next. Drax had asked her to calm him and help him sleep, so he was passed out in another part of the ship. Groot was with him, having needed sleep as well. She was all too willing to take away some of their pain, if only for a short time.

"What the hell happened?" Gamora groaned.

"You don't remember?" Mantis asked, worried that perhaps Rocket had shocked her too much. She had no idea how the body mods worked in these guys. Gamora didn't respond at first. And then Mantis felt it, with out even touch her. The panick. The denial. The sheer grief. All of it as her memories came rushing back. Most of all, she felt Gamora's regret.

"I'm sorry, Gamora. I wish-,"

"Don't. Just don't. I don't want to see you," Gamora said.

"Would you like to go back to sleep? Drax and Groot let me help calm and put them to sleep so they could escape their grief. I could do that for you too."

"Don't touch me. I don't need you to know my feelings. There's nothing you could do to help me," Gamora said, barely holding herself together.

"I can already feel them," Mantis responded. Gamora glared at her, and she explained. "When ones emotions are unusually strong, I don't need to touch them. The distance at which I can feel them depends on how strong they are. And you have so many strong emotions right now, I don't think I could escape them unless I left this ship. You are feeling so much. The pain of losing him is much stronger for you than the others. You loved him."

"No, I don't," Gamora quickly countered, hating her rapid denial. She knew if anyone else were overhearing this, they'd immediately know she was lying.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. He loved you as well."

"I know. You blurted it out in front of everyone. You embarrassed the hell out of him. It was inconsiderate of you to do that, especially with me right there," Gamora said.

"I am sorry. As I said, the intricacies of social interaction are new to me. The only person I was ever around for an extended time was Ego. And I wasn't meant to socialize. Just serve him. Did you not know of Peters affections for you?"

"I knew he enjoyed flirting with me and making me dance with him. He had a reputation prior to my meeting him. I thought it was just him keeping his game up for the next planet we landed on."

"Would it have bothered you if you'd seen him with other women?"

"I don't know. But it doesn't matter now. He's gone," Gamora said. Both women were silent for a time, then Gamora asked, "Where's Rocket, Kraglin, and Nebula?"

"Probably down the ladder, still trying to discuss what they are going to do next. They were doing it up here, but their voices were going to wake up Drax and Groot, so I suggested they take it down there and as far away from the opening as possible."

Gamora modded and carefully stood up. Once she knew she was steady on her feet, she went to find them. When Rocket saw her, he shrank behind Kraglin. Gamora resisted the urge to run straight for him and strangle him right then. Instead, she stared the three down. Only Nebula was unaffected by her death stare.

"Explain yourselves, why did you leave Peter behind," Gamora said in a deadly calm voice. She almost choked on his name. It was the first time since waking no up that she said it, and it was like a knife in her. No, it was worse. At least she could pull out the knife, apply some pain killer, patch it up, and be better in less than a week. This pain would never go away completely.

"Rocket said we had to go," Kraglin said, clearly fearing for his life at the moment.

"Gamora, there was nothing we could have done without getting ourselves killed. And I still have business here. Once our father is dead, then I can die myself," Nebula responded. When Gamora turned her eyes to Rocket, he shook his head.

"I couldn't lose two friends tonight. I couldn't handle it. So I made the call to leave, and Kraglin did. If I'd have let you go, then we would have lost both of you. So yeah, I knocked you out. And you know what? I'd do it again. Even if you hate me for it. Because guess what, Quill would not have wanted any of us going after him if I meant we were going to die. So I did it. I left him. It killed me, but freaking left him to die. I thought he'd had a chance when I gave Yondu that damn space suit and aero rig, but there wasn't enough time. Damn it, I left one of my only friends to die," Rocket said. Breaking down further into hysterics as he spoke, and Gamora felt her anger disappear.

"Rocket, maybe you should let Mantis put you to sleep," Gamora said. The raccoon just shook his head. He was about to say something when Mantis called down to them.

"Hey guys, what does this little blinking blue light mean?" She said. Rocket and Gamora looked at each other, not daring to hope that the blue light was a signal from a space suit. Because right now, hope like this was dangerous, and if they got their hopes up too high, and they were wrong, then there'd be no coming back from that emotional crash.

"I'll go check on it," Kraglin finally said, leaving them to check it out.

"You gave Yondu aero rigs and space suits?" Gamora said quietly, hopefully, to Rocket.

" I only had one of each. So if we find two people, one of them will be dead, and I'm not sure which one. If it's just one, well, I'm still not sure which it'd be. Probably Yondu, though. Even so, those suits have a short time to them, so we might not have enough time to find them."

"Guys, get up here now!" Kraglin yelled. Rocket and Gamora nearly tackled each other to get to the upper deck. Nebula followed after. Kraglin was at the head of the ship, looking out the window into space beyond. He handed Rocket a pair of binoculars and told home where to look.

"It's Quill in the space suit!" Rocket yelled, and Gamora felt her heart jump.

"Rocket, don't say that unless you're sure."

"It's him. We gots to get him soon. His batteries will run out soon. Mantis, get on standby to put Quill to sleep when we get him on here. He might not be in the best state."

"Why, Rocket?" Gamora asked, worried again.

" Well first off, he just lost his immortality after killing his father, so we don't know what kind of injuries he'll have after that fight plus how much damage he could have sustained from the explosion. It'll be easier to examine him if he's unconscious, plus any pain he has will be dulled in sleep."

"Also, he's not the only one we're pulling in," Kraglin said, sorrow in his voice. "He's holding Yondu's body. Yondu must have got him out, but at the expense of his own life. And Peter must have watched as he died from exposure out here. So he's not going to be emotionally okay with any of this either."

When they got Yondu and Quill in, it was just barely in time. The suit lost power just as they had finished pulling them on. Mantis jumped forward and quickly got Quill to sleep. Examining him revealed only minor injuries. They let him sleep, but woke up Groot and Drax, who both were so overjoyed at him being alive that they almost woke him up, specifically Drax with his booming voice.

Gamora stayed by his side as he slept. She resisted the urge to run her hand through his hair or laying down beside him. Kraglin had asked if they could hold a small service for Yondu on the ship, using the combustion chamber to incinerate his body, sending his ashes out amongst the stars. Everyone had agreed. It would only be them, but they'd send him off as best they could. But they wanted to wait until Peter woke up.

"Shouldn't he have woken by now? It's been ten hours," Gamora asked Mantis.

"If he's sleeping this long, it's because he needs to. My effects are short lived. They'll only last a couple of hours maximum, unless I am constantly refreshing it. And the stronger ones emotions, the more energy I use to calm them enough to sleep. In this case, it's taken a great deal of energy between him, Groot, and Drax. Theres no way I could have kept him asleep this long."

"We shouldn't keep Yondu's body in here much longer. I hate to say this, but you should wake him."

"Are you sure?" Mantis asked. Gamora nodded, so Mantis began waking him. When Peter jerked awake, she jumped back startled, but Gamora moved closer to calm him.

"Hey. Calm down. You're okay. You're on the ship," Gamora said.

"Where's Yondu?"

"Kraglin is preparing his body. I'm sorry Peter. He was gone when we brought you two in."

"He sacrificed himself for me. He saved my life," Peter said.

"I know. We figured you'd want to be part of what ever we can do for a funeral for him, so I had Mantis wake you."

"Thank you. Can you take me to him?" Gamora nodded and led him to where Kraglin had set up the makeshift funeral. She wanted to say so much to him right now. She especially wanted to yell at him for scaring her so much, but it could wait.

Watching the Ravager fleet that had unexpectedly arrived to send off Yondu, Peter seemed to be at peace. Nebula left, off to find a way to kill Thanos. Gamora found herself watching Peter, looking for any sign that he wasn't okay.

"What?" Peter said when he caught her.

"It's—," she started. It's what? What should she say? She didn't want to just come out and and say she loved him. She still wanted to tell at him for almost dying. She was concerned he wasn't completely okay. So she just went with the simplest response, "Just some unspoken thing."


End file.
